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Lowndes win puts record in sights

Mark Fogarty

Team effort … Craig Lowndes lands victory in Saturday's Sydney 500 race. Victory leaves him second on the championship standings, just three points ahead of Mark Winterbottom. Photo: Getty Images

IN THE pantheon of hero drivers, Craig Lowndes is a legend whose exalted status has as much to do with his personality as his achievements in a 16-year V8 Supercars career that is still going strong.

Lowndes is by far the most popular and best-known active V8 driver, thanks to his affinity with the fans and his cheerful demeanour that has attracted a large and loyal following. His fan-friendliness and fame are often likened to the broad public appeal of the late Peter Brock, who was Lowndes's friend and mentor.

He ranks as one of V8 racing's all-time greats more because of his effervescence, approachability and exciting driving style than his tally of championships and Bathurst 1000 victories. Considerable as they are, his three titles - the last of which was in 1999 - and his five Bathurst trophies aren't close to the all-time marks.

Brock triumphed at Bathurst nine times and Jim Richards is a seven-time winner at Mount Panorama. Larry Perkins and Mark Skaife have six successes, while even his much younger Triple Eight Holden teammate Jamie Whincup has won Bathurst four times. Whincup this year joined hall of famers Allan Moffat, Bob Jane and Richards as four-time champions, one fewer than the record tally of Ian Geoghegan, Dick Johnson and Skaife.

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But there is one record that Lowndes is set to exceed following his assisted come-from-way-behind victory in the first leg of the Sydney 500 on Saturday.

It took the 38-year-old veteran's score to 89 wins, just one short of tying Skaife's record total.

Lowndes can equal his former teammate and 2010 Bathurst co-winner in Sunday's deciding 74-lap, 250 kilometre race at the Sydney Olympic Park street circuit but, longer-term, his goal is to claim the race wins record in his own right.

Driving perhaps as well as he ever has, he still has at least a few years left in him as a full-time V8s driver, planning to continue into his early 40s and collect many more victories.

"It's great to get closer to Skaifey's record but, really, breaking the record is the thing I want to achieve," Lowndes said after becoming the first repeat winner at the Sydney 500 in the seven races since the inaugural event in 2009.

His talent, although overshadowed this season by Whincup's superiority in the sister Triple Eight Commodore, kept him in contention for much of the season and his latest win lifted him to second - albeit narrowly - in the championship.

Finishing runner-up is his, the team's and even Whincup's season-ending aim, to which end they conspired to help him in Saturday's race, run in oppressive heat and humidity.

Lowndes saved fuel - and face for Triple Eight - to come from way behind to win the crash-marred race, charging through from 16th on the grid after he and Whincup were caught out during the rain-affected morning qualifying session. The victory moved him into second in the championship, overtaking Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom, who finished ninth in his Falcon after recovering from qualifying 25th despite a late-race pit stop to top up with fuel. But to complete Triple Eight's championship one-two, Lowndes still has a fight ahead of him as he goes into Sunday's race just three points ahead of Winterbottom.

With up to 150 points still available, their battle for title runner-up honours will be a tense affair.

"Our focus is on securing second in the championship," Lowndes said. "We're flexible enough as a team to try to get maximum points for me, and thanks to Jamie [Whincup] pulling over in the pits for me, we were able to do that. All credit to Jamie for sacrificing a possible win to help me."

Whincup, who started in 14th position after misjudging the slick track conditions in qualifying, helped Lowndes by letting him by in the pit lane when they came in for their final fuel and tyre stops on lap 44. The swap allowed Lowndes to rejoin in second behind South Australian young gun Tim Slade, with both having to conserve fuel to make it to the finish.

Slade succumbed to the pressure of Lowndes's pursuit with 12 laps to go, sliding wide through a turn in his Stone Brothers Racing Falcon.

He regained second place towards the finish when James Courtney faded to third in his Holden Racing Team Commodore, which he slowed to conserve fuel to make it to the end.